Wamp backs Dem redistricting plan

Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) became the first Republican to join a Democratic effort to limit gerrymandering. 

Wamp yesterday signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill introduced by Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) that would establish bipartisan commissions to redraw state congressional districts every ten years. 

“Too many Congressional districts have been carefully designed to guarantee victory for one political party or another,” said Wamp. “As the political lines become more skewed, successful candidates are increasingly more interested in political rhetoric than solutions and serving the public.”

Redistricting has typically been a partisan exercise.  House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) won the admiration of fellow Republicans and condemnation from Democrats in 2003 when he engineered a mid-decade redistricting in Texas that led four House Democrats to lose their seats. 

Josephine Hearn